Crowded House 'live' at the Sydney Opera House ABC TV

   It's wonderful to sit and share the joy of Crowded House with our girls twenty years on from the entire collection on high rotation in the car, the house, anywhere!! Neil Finn is just a masterful lyricist, composer and musician...
   I'm reminded of the concert twenty years ago because we didn't go!! I know!
Not for the first time or the last I chose to be where my vocation called for me to be [though on that occasion I was less than impressed with the turnout] but the quality of relationships with those gathered was a wonderful thing!! It was a UYF Christmas Party at Charlestown UC and I and others were on BBQ duty!! So I have the double VHS collection instead...
   That's why [apart from being away, since booked] I decided not to go this time... It's hard to relive something you missed first time around!! It's different to why I don't go to the vineyards, which is about it never being the same as it was... or the risk it won't be!! Nice though, to read friends FB messages across the last four nights!! They are still a great band... 'Beatlesesque' when there were then too many good bands for that to be quite as unique!!
   So here I am in the lounge room fighting back tears for songs that speak of life's pains, decisions, good times and grief. There are songs reminding me of: so many venues and gigs seeing this band live; strong albums; Neil's perfectionism; Paul Hester's jester act and just the magic of storytelling through song...
   There's also something wonderful about the Aussie/Kiwi battle/wrestle/market size that means Crowded House reflect our brashness and Kiwi humility and creativity.
   I'm reminded too of Newcastle's Civic Theatre with the Finn brothers plus Liam and Elroy Finn as the players rotate around instruments for several songs... showing off, no, showing sheer talent. Then there's the 'Sound Relief' gig with Neil playing guitar and singing and Tim on guitar, voice and foot drums!! Wonderful! Tim will be onstage soon... and as I'm in QLD, there he is right on cue I kid you not... "It's Only Natural"!!
   I'm also sad for Paul Hester who lived with such anguish and who died so alone at a time of his own choosing. A reminder to me that if the one whose example I try to follow, the community we are called to be in response and the Christ we are meant to bring, means anything it has to mean something in those times and places. We have to actually be a people tuned into those voices from the struggling edge of ourselves and our community... places of hope in bad times, of joy and of so many more things...
   It makes me think of Neil at the Opera House [inside] after Paul's death and we'd gone to hear him play and he asked for the PA to be turned off and he just sang for Paul a capella in that space and it was not just a 'thin place' but the shared grief was palpable.
   So there you go, that's what I'm thinking of and tearful about in a time share lounge room as the grainy reception on the Unit TV offers some glimpse of creativity, joy, talent and celebration that's always been Crowded House!!
   Looking forward to "Weather With You" and so many more...